[BONUS EPISODE] Eyewear That Fits Your Face and Your Culture: Tribal Eyes' Inspiring Story with Dr. Ona Utuama

Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher-than-average expenses to travel the world. I'm your host, Devon Gimbel, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset if you know how to leverage them. Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often? Let's get started.

Hello everyone, I have a surprise for you today with this bonus episode of the Point Me To First Class podcast. Today, we're getting a peek into the story behind the creation of popular eyewear brand, Tribal Eyes, and its incredible founder, Dr. Ona Utuama. Dr. Ona Utuama is a family medicine physician and the founder and creative director of Tribal Eyes, an e-commerce eyewear brand.

Tribal Eyes was founded in the summer of 2020 with designs that have gone beyond the physical boundaries of a pair of glasses, infusing culture and fit into an everyday wearable kaleidoscope of traditional motifs. By focusing on bigger noses, wide nasal bridges, high cheekbones, or no nasal bridges, Tribal Eyes is changing the narrative that eyewear is not a one-size-fits-all or monochromatic fashion accessory.

I can't wait to share more about how this incredible company started and the gap that it's filling in the fashionable eyewear space. But first I'm thrilled to welcome Tribal Eyes founder, Dr. Ona Utuama to the show.

Devon: Dr. Ona, thank you so much for joining me today.

Dr. Ona: Thank you for having me. I'm so excited that I get to chat with you.

Devon: Same, and I'm so excited for you to kind of share the story behind this company. I think it's so amazing to hear about how did new brands come about? What is the need or the gap that they're filling in the marketplace? And what makes this so different and so unique, you know, in the landscape of fashionable eyewear? So can you just take us back and tell us more about the origin story of Tribal Eyes.

How did you go from practicing medicine to creating an eyewear brand? And was this always the plan for you? Dr. Ona?

Dr. Ona: Do you want the long or the short story?

Devon: Give us the long story.

Dr. Ona: Well, I would say that, I mean, the story is brief. It's not a long convoluted story. It's really, it's filling the gap. That is a pain point. So I, in 2019, I was trying to change my glasses And I realized my eyeglasses and sunglasses, but let's talk about my eyeglasses. And then I realized that it was taking me a long time to decide what I wanted. So I would go into the shop, I would look around, I would try a couple. And I mean, I would try almost every style, but it wasn't sitting right. And I couldn't understand why. I don't know that I thought about it as not sitting right. I just didn't like how it looked. It didn't complement my face and I didn't understand why.

So let's fast forward to the fall of 2019. I was in New York and there was, I think, an optical convention. And I walked in, I wasn't there for that, but I was, you know, coincidentally in the city. When I track back and think back, every time I go to a city, I'm actually going looking for sunglasses, I think because it's always been a pain point, but I couldn't really pinpoint why it was a challenge for me.

So anyway, I walk in and I find a manufacturer, I would say, and I buy two glasses from them. One, a little big one, you know, kind of average and I take it home, but I don't even start wearing it because I just spent money on this expensive designer brand that I had, which, you know, took a while for me to buy. So I ended up just buying it because I was tired of going back and back to the shop, like always going back. But I couldn't find something because I didn't have time. I said, you know what, let me just buy it and wear it. But I didn't, I wouldn't say that it was something I really liked. You know how sometimes you buy something and you're like, yeah, I just bought it because, you know, I was rushing or I needed a blue, whatever theme you're trying to get, but you didn't really like how it fits, that's exactly what happened.

And true to, you know, what I was suspecting, I wore them for maybe a couple of months. And then I would be examining my patients as a hospital is, which is really walking in the hospital at meeting patients. And you have to reach over to listen to the chest and all that. And my glasses was literally like sliding off my face and falling. And I said, this is ridiculous. I mean, I have to tape it for it to stay. I said, after spending all this money, this is too much.

So anyway, I end up putting my prescription in the two glasses that I had bought in New York. And when I wore them, I got a lot of compliments, but it was really the fit. I think the compliments were really coming because of the fit. And I also liked it. I mean, it fits really well. I had, I still wear them and they still fit. This is what, four years after. That's a long time.

You know, so there was that. I had this, the second pair was a little bigger. I thought it was as big as this. I thought it was too much for hospital. You kind of want to taper down, you know, how you dress in the hospital. So you're not over the top. And each time I was my back glasses at home, cause I thought it was too much for the hospital.

My husband would laugh like, "Oh my God, this is vava voom. Amazing." You know, long story short, you know, I was getting lots of compliments. Of course, the pandemic came in 2020. And during the pandemic, I used to wear the big glasses because I didn't want to apply makeup. You know, I wasn't really in the mood. No one was in the mood during that time of our lives.

So I would wear them and people wouldn't even ask me, "Oh, how are you? You're working in the hospital. I'm sure it's scary." They all wanted to talk about my glasses. "Oh, I love your glasses. Oh my God, I love your glasses. If you buy it, we will sell." And then I had a light bulb moment and I was like, okay, I'm sure it's the fit that's making them love the glasses.

So I went on to do my research and, you know, as a researcher, I have an MPH, you know, I used to work at the CDC as a research fellow. So I said, let me go research who's making glasses for diverse facial features. And when I say diverse, you know, we make classes for multi-ethnic, you know, facial features, whether you're Asian, you know, they have wider nasal bridges. Sometimes they have no nasal bridge and then they have high cheekbones or you're black like me. We typically have wider nasal bridges and higher cheekbones. And even if you're from the Mediterranean, like the Greeks, they have bigger noses and they have high cheek and nose bridges.

So it's not just one ethnicity that has a challenge with nose bridges. But when you go into the shop, nobody's telling you this. They just say, go buy glasses. Oh, do you like this one? Or you might say, oh, it's too expensive. I'll take this color. You know, there's none of that. So eyewear really has to be personalized. And it was in doing this research, I realized that nobody was talking about this.

I said, Oh my God, oh my God, the eyewear industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. Eyewear has been invented for centuries, but no one really was considering that just the way you wear different sizes in your clothes, you can't go shop for a size 0 dress if you're a size 4 or size 20 dress if you're a size 16. The same way you should really shop based on your facial features. And that's how Tribal Eyes was born.

Devon: So Tribal Eyes was born in 2020. But then tell us a little bit more about what happened next.

Dr. Ona: Oh, so many things. So it was born and, you know, I was very hesitant. I'm not sure if it was being a woman, you know, having what we call imposter syndrome or being a physician, a type A personality. I wanted to be successful from the get-go at anything. As physicians, we can't really fail because we deal with human beings, right?

And I think this is the challenge with a lot of us going into entrepreneurship. We feel like, oh, you know, I don't want to fail, but you know, a business must grow just the way you give birth to a child. You know, the child must take time to learn to walk. They will fall sometimes, then they learn to walk and then they run. Even when they run, even though they could walk before, If they trip, they'll fall too.

So I was so afraid. And I remember just having sleepless night thinking, Oh my God, what if I feel like, Oh my God, what if I fail? But then I tracked back and I just thought. I, there was just a pandemic. A good number of my colleagues died.

I worked as a hospitalist in-house. What if I died? I did not die. If I fail in this business, that's not the worst thing that can happen. I will start another one.

And that was the one single factor that helped me launch. And after I launched, I said we will either fail or we will fly and we flew. Again, because of the pain point, many people, I mean, when I do pop-ups, when I interact with people, it's all the light bulb moment, like, oh my God, they've had the pain point, but they couldn't really figure out what it was, what the problem was they were having with trying to, you know, fit the eyewear to their face. They couldn't figure it out. So it's really that pain point that people were responding to that made them really support us when we started.

And we got very busy very quickly.

Devon: So you've talked about this gap in the market that existed and the pain points that so many customers who are just looking for well-fitting, fashionable glasses have faced. Talk to me about how specifically did you and Tribal Eyes go about addressing this pain point and making sure that you created a line of eyewear that fit the broad range of humans that are walking around looking for great glasses?

Dr. Ona: So I think that's an amazing question because when you think about the Iowa industry, you want to ask yourself either who's the pioneer or what part of the world is known for it. The Europeans from Italy have monopoly of the industry. That's fine. My goal is not even to try to, they're too big. They're such giants. I'm so small. You know, I'm not, I'm just trying to meet those people who are pinpoint like me. And there's millions of them because I know there are millions of people that look like me. There are millions of people who are Asians, billions, the millions and billions of people who are from the Mediterranean Sea, and all those other people who even have the typical thin long nose, who've broken their nose, now have a hump, now they can't fit the typical glasses.

So a lot of the eyewear is designed by the manufacturers who make it in Italy. What is the facial feature of the person in Italy? They have the typical thin long nose. Sometimes they might have a high nasal bridge. So you can't make glasses for everybody using that dimension. You really have to think about the other people. It's because they were making it, they were only thinking about themselves.

I'm sure they go, come, come, let's measure this. Maybe they line up the staff or, you know, whoever they have around them and say, let's measure your face and let's do this. Oh, it fits, oh, it sits right. But then they don't have people that look like me or they don't have the luxury of people, other people who have pain points.

So what we really did was to take our diverse tribe, our Asians, our Blacks, those from the Mediterranean Sea, those from South Asia, and even our Caucasian tribe to say, how can we, because there's a way you can design the glasses such that it will sit right. The nose, a lot of people, when you look at websites, the big websites, a lot of them talk about face shape.

Yeah. Face shape. Yeah. But for me, the glasses, like can you imagine if you didn't have a nose rest? Let's imagine that we remove the nose rest and just give you a pair of glasses to put on your face.

Your face is the canvas, but the nose is really the foundation, like a house. The way a house sits on a foundation, if the foundation of the house is not right, it won't sit. That's how the nose is the foundation of the glasses, such that when you wear glasses that don't fit, they will either slide forward or they're so tight, you have marks and scars. I mean, I've seen them. I know them. I've been that. Or when you smile, you have lines on your cheeks because you have high cheekbones, but the glasses were made for people who have no, who don't have high cheekbones.

So again, we did a lot of, we used a lot of our people, the facial, and then as a physician, obviously I understand the anatomy of the face. I understand the anatomy of the face and the classification of the nose, the nose bridge, the cheekbones, there is a classification. So I'm really bringing science into the arts of eyewear and adding some ethnic flair.

Devon: Yes, and I'm so glad you mentioned this because obviously this is a podcast so folks can listen to this but they're not, at least at this point, able to see exactly how fabulous you look as we are speaking. And your eyewear is not just about functionality, which of course is important, especially when we're talking about things like prescription eyeglasses so we can see or sunglasses so we can protect our eyes. But talk to me more about this element of not just functionality, but bringing in the design, the fashion, and the ethnic flair.

Dr. Ona: That's something I'm very passionate about. I realized too during my research that no one would also, just the way you have ethnic design, like you have the Indian, sometimes you have, even in Western brands, you might have like an Asian pattern or an Indian design. I noticed that there were no African patterns on Western brands. I mean, you would even see Western brands like the Dior, sometimes they'll use an African prints to make a bag or to make a dress. In eyewear, there was none of that.

I said, why not? Why not? So once I did my research and realized it wasn't being done, I said, you know what, we'll create some designs and we'll patent this. So we have two patterns on our designs and of course more to come. So for me, like this one I'm wearing is called the dashiki design.

It's really known to West Africa. We also have the chakra art design, which is yoga associated with yoga from, you know, South Asia. We also have designs from Ghana, the kente print and, you know, more patterns really to come. So for me, that's something I'm passionate about. And that's something that people relate with.

I feel that your eyes are the first point of contact. Why can't we put in some ethnic designs?

Devon: Yes, and the glasses that you're wearing right now are stunning. We're going to link up your website in the episode show notes and the podcast episode description so that folks can go check it out, see exactly what it is that you offer. But first, can you tell us a little bit more about who is the tribal eyes customer who's coming and looking for these glasses? Who do you envision wearing these glasses around the world?

Dr. Ona: That's a question I love. When I think of a tribalized custom, I think of someone 35 to 55 female male who is a global citizen who really appreciates the beauty of style, fit, and culture.

Devon: And for those folks who are out on the market, and they're looking for more than just one functional piece of eyewear to take them, you know, wherever they go in their life and just something that sits on the face to make so that they can actually see appropriately. But they're really looking for some statement pieces. They're looking for something to add to their face, like you said, as like a beautiful painting on a canvas.

Do you have tips or recommendations for people, especially those who have struggled to find eyewear that looks great on them and that fits well? What are the types of things that folks should keep in mind when they are looking for a great new pair of glasses to find the one that's going to be a great fit for them?

Devon: I think first of all, it's identifying what your size is. Again, just the way you know your size 0 or size 2 or size 12 or 22, you also want to know what your size is, and your size is really going to be determined by your ethnicity. So if you're Caucasian, for example, you want to think about looking for eyewear that don't really have a wide nasal bridge, or for eyewear that might be universal fit. So some of our glasses are universal fit the way we make them.

For Caucasians, I encourage them to go for more aviators and wayfarers because they ride higher. Kind of like the one you're wearing, I would call it a wayfarer. You have a high nose bridge. And why do I call it the high nose bridge? I'm not so close to you but looking at you I can see that the tip of your nose is really the tip of your nose where your nose starts off your face If you have a high nose bridge, it will be either at the level of your eye or a little above it. You can see that yours is high up there. So for you, you want to get wafer as yes, you want to get wafers and you want to get aviators because the breach of the glass is usually right high.

I mean, for someone like me, you can see how when you compare, if you look at me now, now that I'm telling you, when you see people, you start judging their nose bridges. You know, if you look at me, for example, you can see that my nose bridge really starts here, right? Because this is a big pair of glasses, the nose bridge of the frame is wide, so it goes all the way from here down. But if you notice, even the lower part of the bridge, my eyes, where my nose begins, is a little below the level of my eyes. So you would call me low nose bridge. Then let's talk about the width. The nose bridge diameter really is the guide for the perfect fit. So I talked about you, a narrower nose bridge, for me, a wider nose bridge. 

And we have dimensions on our website where we have nose bridge fit guide where it tells you when you look on the inside of the glasses there are 3 numbers and the middle number is nose bridge diameter so based on that to tell you how to shop for your glasses so my best recommendation for your guests really is to go to our website and look at our nose bridge fit guide and they give you the dimensions.

For me, for example I buy glasses with nose bridge fit 18 and above because I'm wider nose bridge. For medium nose bridge it should be about 16 to 18. And then less than that, I'd do less than 15 if you have a narrow nose bridge. And then we can talk about cheekbones, but I would tell them to go to the website and learn some more about that.

Devon: Well, is there anything that people absolutely need to know about cheekbones and hear it directly from you?

Dr. Ona: Yes. We do something called a smile test. When you smile, if your cheekbones hit your glasses and there's a line where the glasses, where you smile, I mean, because mine fit, you won't see it here, but if I'm just gonna apply pressure so you can see what I'm talking about but this is not how it sits right like if you smile and it's crossing a line it's dividing your cheek and there's part of your cheek in the glasses part out and there's a line that doesn't fit your cheekbones that's not something your glasses should not ride high when you smile.

If you notice some glasses, when you smile, it pushes the glasses up. It shouldn't be that way. That's not a good fit for your cheekbones.

Devon: Thank you for all of these tips. You know, I think so many people have probably had an experience where they've gone and they've looked for eyewear and they've never found something that they really love or they find something that they think looks nice when they hold it in their hands, but it's not a comfortable fit. And there isn't a lot of education out there about how do glasses actually sit on our faces? What are some of these key facial features that we should be aware about on our own faces and learning how to pick out glasses that not only look great, but that are actually going to sit on our faces in a way that makes sense for our anatomy, for our structure. So thank you for giving us sort of the sneak peek into how to actually think about glasses and look for them.

And one of the things I would love to hear from you is what have been some of the greatest successes or the most exciting things that have happened for you in your business with Tribal Eyes? And what do you see moving forward? What do you all hope to accomplish?

Dr. Ona: Wow, greatest successes. We've had a couple, honestly. And honestly, the biggest one for me is really meeting my customers and them just going, aha. When I talk about the fit and be like, "Oh my God, no way. I've been so confused. I've been trying to find glasses that fit my face. Thank you." So I think for me, that would be our greatest success any day and not to have one of that, but thousands. So I know that there's the market. I know that people appreciate where we're coming from and that we're really meeting a pin point.

But when you want to talk about maybe material success in terms of, you know, what we've done. I would say that our first retailer, Anthropologie Dubai, has to have been like the greatest thing that happened because it opened doors for us. And it also helped me develop confidence where I initially was like, "What am I doing? Are they buying it just because they like me?" You know what I mean? Like, you don't know.

But when that happened, I was like, "Oh my God. So someone who professionally buys eyewear or accessories for Anthropologie Global actually saw our eyewear and thought it would be a good fit for their shop." And this was within six months of launching, you know, they found us at London fashion week. So that's something I think that's another great success.

And then other successes that came after that, like Nordstrom, we had Nordstrom last summer. We had Bloomingdale's last summer and this summer, early fall, late summer, last year and this year. All our magazines, editorial. I mean, being on TV was awesome. This summer in June's National Sunglasses Day, we're actually called by Fox Philly to come talk about, you know, how to shop the right glasses.

So I think being recognized as an industry expert, even though I still feel like I'm such a young brand, you know, I call myself established and emerging, you know, so, yeah, I still feel like, you know, we're growing, but to be called a national stage, that was a big success, I think, for me and for the brand.

Devon: Well, I think that speaks so much, again, not only to just how incredible your eyewear looks, but the fact that you really are filling a gap in the industry. And like you mentioned, that gap is not just one or two people here or there. You are building eyewear for billions and billions of people worldwide. And so it's no surprise to me whatsoever that you've had all of this success, even as a quote, "early entrepreneur", because I think people are really responding to the fact that you are providing something they have been looking for that has been missing for a very, very long time.

Now I know we're coming up on the holiday season. This is a time of year that folks tend to look for items to buy for themselves, to buy for loved ones. Obviously here at Point Me to First Class, we love travel, we love thinking about items that are really going to come in handy while we're traveling. And I think that your eyewear really kind of checks all the boxes when it comes to that. And so can you tell folks a little bit more about where can they find your designs? How can they look at what it is that you're offering and maybe buy a pair for themselves or more than one pair for themselves for their upcoming travels? Where can they learn more about what it is that you're doing and offering?

Dr. Ona: Our website is www.tribaleyes that’s T-R-I-B-A-L-E-Y-E-S shop. So two S’s, T-R-I-B-A-L-E-Y-E-S-S-H-O-P .com. So if you go on our website, you really want to subscribe because for this Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday, we are doing a warehouse special. So one good news is we're moving to a warehouse. Woohoo, I'm so excited.

So it's for us to consolidate our products, we're going to be doing our first warehouse sale. So you really have to subscribe because it's those who subscribe that will be able to get up to 50% off of our products. Again, you have our website. Our Instagram is @tribal.eyes. And then you can also subscribe to be part of our travel club. All the links are on the website. I'm so excited. Thank you, Devon. Has been amazing.

Devon: Thank you so much for joining us for sharing the story more about you and about this amazing company that you created. I wish you so much more continued success in your business. I think what you've created is absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait for more people to get their hands on some of your phenomenal eyeglasses. So Dr. Ona, thank you so much for sharing your story and joining me on this special bonus episode of the Point Me To First Class podcast today. I appreciate you so much.

Dr. Ona: Thank you. Have a good day. Happy holidays. Happy.

Devon: You too.

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Point Me to First Class. If you want more tips on turning your expenses into travel, visit pointmetofirstclass.com to learn more. See you next week.